THERE HAS been a marked increase in the number of people affected by swine flu over the past week, the Department of Health has confirmed.
Its chief medical officer Dr Tony Holohan told a press briefing in Dublin yesterday evening that the rate of infection rose to 72.2 per 100,000 of the population in the past week from 40 per 100,000 the previous week, an almost doubling of the rates of infection. The latest figures would equate to about 3,300 cases of infection a week.
Dr Holohan said the significant increase in the rate of infection in the past week may imply “we are at the start of an acceleration phase” in the spread of the pandemic H1N1 virus.
“Certainly our assumptions are that that’s what we could be looking at, but we’ll know more when we see the rates for next week,” he said. Dr Holohan added that there have been a further six outbreaks of swine flu in schools over the last week, but no schools have had to close. To date there have been 20 outbreaks in educational settings.
In addition, 33 more people have been hospitalised with swine flu over the past seven days, bringing the total numbers that have been hospitalised to date with the virus to 147, he said. Eight patients remain in intensive care.
Meanwhile, the numbers of laboratory confirmed cases of swine flu increased by 266 over the past week to 1,268.
Dr Holohan reiterated the importance of good hand hygiene and using tissues when coughing and sneezing to prevent the spread of the virus. People with symptoms should stay at home from work or school for seven days.
The HSE’s national director of population health Dr Pat Doorley said he expects the swine flu vaccine to be licensed by the European Medicines Evaluation Agency some time in October.
Between 60 and 100 mass vaccination clinics are to be set up across the State.